Monday, March 21, 2005

Who is Allowing Stem Cell Research?

William Hoffman of the University of Minnesota has compiled a map of the countries with the most flexible and permissive policies on embryonic stem cell research. Nations in dark brown (most notably China, India, Japan, the UK and South Korea) have "permissive" policies (almost anything goes except human reproductive cloning); those in light brown have "flexible" policies (permitted, but with restrictions). Nations in yellow (including the US) have the most restrictive policies or are not involved in research.

In the US, California is singled out because of its Proposition 71 that provides a state constitutional right to pursue stem cell research. It's important to note that permissive stem cell research policies do not necessarily imply scientific leadership; the US, after all, has more genome sequencing centers than any other nation.

The site has several other maps showing different types of scientific, technological and economic leadership throughout the world.

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